Taunton landfill: From humble beginnings to expected closure

The Taunton landfill at on East Britannia Street was founded in 1938, according to state records, and throughout its early years it didn’t have many fans among neighborhood residents and the city’s fire department.

The Taunton landfill at on East Britannia Street was founded in 1938, according to state records, and throughout its early years it didn’t have many fans among neighborhood residents and the city’s fire department.

“I can remember when the mound burned frequently,” said William Hanna, a local historian, who grew up in Taunton in the 1940s. “People in that area used to be crazy mad about the dump because when it burned it would get out of control and smoke was ridiculous. The fire department was up there all the time. Right now, it is 1,000 times better then the old days.”

Fires weren’t the only unsightly effect.

“There was a rat problem up there that was significant,” Hanna said. “It was really an unattractive place. You go across Broadway up by the root beer stand, and down Jackson Street. That used to be under a pall of smoke. People would complain. The clothes they had drying on the line and would be all sooty and dirty. It was very, very difficult. And at that time the old Raynham landfill was just down the street. You had two of those situations on the same street.”

Former Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley, another city historian, said that up to the 1960s, there used to be neighborhood dumps in some areas of town. “But an effort by officials prohibited that,” he said.

Crowley said that the East Britannia Street landfill really started to expand in size in the mid-90s under Mayor Robert Nunes. “Up to that time, the city ran its own landfill,” said Crowley, explaining that an outfit called Mass Gravel took over.

“They put a cover on it,” Crowley said. “They allowed trash from out of town. A lot of the space in the landfill filled up enormously at that point, until it became a mountain. It used to be digged down hole. But in the mid-90s it really started to rapidly increase in size and dimension from that point on.”

Waste Management Massachusetts became responsible for operating the landfill site, which is owned by the city, in 1999. The company has been operating the landfill ever since.

The dump was originally set to be capped off by next year, but the state gave Taunton more flexibility during Crowley’s administration to extend the deadline to March of 2015. However, Waste Management’s contract stipulates that it will continue to accept waste at the site into 2016, the company said.